While all other gun control measures have failed, unfortunately, smart gun technology is still on the table as a means of gun control. HR 2005, the “Personalized Handgun Safety Act of 2013, introduced by liberal Rep. John Tierney, D-Massachusetts, would require that within two years all new guns be “personalized” and all existing guns be retrofitted with smart gun technology. This was in keeping with Obama’s 23 point plan to reduce gun violence using smart gun technology. Expect smart gun technology to be pushed at state level as well.
The Smart Gun or Personalized Gun concept deceptively pushed as a means to protect children, is purely science fiction and that is not going to change any time soon.
The Smart Gun concept encompasses varied technologies. Some use a Verichip, permanently embedded under the user’s skin, to activate the gun.
Smith and Wesson has come up with the “Magna Trigger” system for K through N frame size S&W revolvers, which prevents the trigger from coming back far enough to fire. A user must remember to wear magnetic rings on both hands to enable the use of the firearm.
The Magloc conversion kit for 1911A1 pistols works by stopping the gun from firing unless a magnetic ring worn by the user repels the magnetic blocking device installed inside the grip. Once the system is activated using the matching magnetic ring, the owner can over-ride to the on position and allow anyone to use the gun.
In 1999, Mossberg Shotguns developed a “Smart” shotgun using RFID technology. The advantage with this design was that the identity ring worn by the owner had a passive tag (no batteries) that relied on proximity to the gun for power. The battery pack in the gun was designed to last up to 10 years when not used or up to 8 hours of continual usage (always ready to be fired). The gun comes with a low-battery indicator. Great – something else that you have to keep charged.
Colt’s prototype smart gun technology involved wearing a bracelet that emitted a radio signal to activate a mechanism inside the pistol to allow the gun to be fired but the project was scrapped over concerns of the batteries in the bracelet and pistol failing.
TriggerSmart has its own version using RFID (radio-frequency identification technology). The BIOMAC system employs a biometric array of up to 8 optical sensors molded into the handle of the gun that measures biometric data below the skin to enable firing.
My personal favorite is the WPW lock that can be unlocked only by a release key, RFID, barcode, etc. and will stay active (ready to fire) as long as its owner holds the gun in their hand. If you drop it or it is knocked out of your hand, or you lay it down, a security lock kicks in to prevent anyone from firing the weapon until it is unlocked again. The system will also work with a NFC chip mounted on a holster or in a watch or somewhere on your body that will reactive the release key by putting the gun back into the holster or next to your watch or rubbing it on your body, or whatever.
There are many more out there but I think you get the drift.
The main common denominator with all these systems – if you need the gun for self-protection – you’re pretty much screwed, unless of course, the thief or perp calls you in advance to give you time to charge your shotgun, or find your magnetic rings, or recharge the batteries on your locking system. And God help you, if you’re somehow incapacitated and another family member needs to fire the weapon.
Then there is the Yardarm Safety First solution that remotely connects gun owners via mobile app or secure website, to a Sensor, which can be installed on any firearm to enable wireless, real-time control of the trigger safety, full motion detection, and geo-location tracking, alerting owners immediately via a mobile device applet if their firearm is touched by an unauthorized individual. Yardarm’s website claims their technology will give you “unprecedented” control 24/7 from anywhere in the world. What they don’t tell you: their system would also give unprecedented control to hackers, the NSA, federal, state and local law enforcement, and Homeland Security, to name only a few.
According to the left, “the only acceptable guns are those which can be handled in complete safety by fools. Forget responsibility and accountability. Forget training and judgment. Forget the fact that life is fraught with risks and benefits and tradeoffs. Forget individual freedom and inalienable rights. Unless a drooling moron can hold the gun in his toes and gnaw on the barrel and yank back on the trigger with his (presumably opposable) thumb in utter and oblivious tranquility, it must be banned.” David Codrea
